"if it's good news, it must be someone else's"

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

this is why i do this

sometimes i feel like i'm banging my head against the wall with all this blogging, as my dreams of power, fame and witty exchanges with letterman and oprah seem like lifeless fireflies, dead from the icy swat of winter's stark, soulless hand.
then i get an email like the one below from little sally from brandon, vermont:

"mr. bob, i just want to thank you very much for making my day a little brighter because you make my stepmommy laugh almost every day and she has been so sad lately and when she is sad she is so mean to me. i don't know who you are but maybe you could marry my real mommy when she gets out of the special building she is in. it has bars is all i know. i guess that is pretty neat though. i wrote her a letter telling her about you and my plan. i think she will like you very much. also, don't forget, she is a good cook. probably better than keaton. i think you would make a funny daddy and i could bring you into school and you could make the kids stop laughing at me because they would laugh at you. that would be very good. anyway please thank you."

folks it's emails like little sally's that keep me going.
even if i didn't get one from little sally.
even if the one above is like the one i would get from little sally, if her stepmommy would ever read this blog.
even if it was completely made-up because i really don't know who little sally is, how little sally is doing, or if little sally even lives in brandon, vermont for chrissakes.
but it's the idea that maybe there are little sally's out there.
that maybe my email system is broken something fierce.
that maybe that's why the little sallys of the brandon, vermonts can't tell me what a difference i make in their otherwise miserable lives.
that then, and only then, would i think this is all worth it.

nah ...
i'm just losing my grip.
that's all.
not too different from the way wilbert pendergotts across the way kinda lost his grip after he got hit upside the head with a bolt of lightning.
in my case, probably from all the wall head banging, if i were the venturing-a-guess sort.

4 comments:

supermom said...

blogging is a difficult thing, but you've got a good thing going and its just a matter of getting the word out a bit more, Oprah is off her rocker a bit now - and is probably not the kind of person you want talking about your blog. She'd take it all the wrong way anyways and make it unfunny by trying to "dig deep" into what you may have been feeling or something stupid like that.

You have succeed in capturing the attention of someone in Generation Y - in my personal opinion, the generation that will ruin the world! Mind you, being a friend of lightly's, still says nothing about me as a person.

In short - I will start going through the history books and posting blogs that made me giggle on Facebook and see what kind of viewing stirs up; would this help??

Randy Johnson said...

I wise man once told me “Success is like the top of Mt. Everest” or was it a refrigerator? …anyway, the main point was, “Without Oprah’s help it takes years of sacrifice to get there. It takes focus, and gritty determination, and when you finally pull yourself to the top of that towering pinnacle, you will find that success is a cold and lonely place, or a grimy place that you will have to clean, depending on your field of endeavor.” …and he went on “so whatever lofty goal you are trying to reach, always remember: The best stuff is inside the refrigerator, and Mt. Everest is one harsh M~*#er F~@%er!”

It might have been one of those “enjoy the journey” speeches or a “re-evaluate your goals” speech …I don’t know. I probably misquoted him badly, and may have embellished a bit, but you get the general idea. All I know is that the guy I’m telling you about inspires me nearly every day. He isn’t one of those cross-legged “top of the mountain” kind of sages. He’s more of a guy sittin’ on a hill in a lawn chair type of philosopher, but his musings are Everest-worthy, and his humor is always refrigerator fresh.

Robert Crane said...

holy smokes supergenerationymom! that sure would be nice of you to do (even if you are a friend of lightly). the big thing is reaching little sally, whereever she might be. that's the big thing if i didn't already say that. maybe she is a facebook friend of yours. that would be the big thing if it were true. (geez, what's this thing i have with the "big thing" all of a sudden)?

seriously, thanks for knowing lightly!

as for you randy, sometimes when i read your comments i think i'm reading something i would write to me if i were me reading me but i didn't know me other than what i write. ya see? that's something you would write. see what i mean?
we are humor blood brothers who i think were separated at our different births. anyway, thanks for the nice (and very tongue in cheek) words.

supermom said...

Bob, I'm sorry - but I have to pop the bubble that you're living in right now. Little Sally - will never exist. No child will be able to have that kind of vocabulary AND think they're "daddy figure" is funny. It's just not happening in your lifetime. Sally will figure out you're funny, when she's an adult looking back on her life.

Being a friend of lightlys has made me appreciate the little things in life - those are the things that keep him entertained.